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What is one tip / trick for plant-based chefs you wished you learned earlier in your career?

Ask Me Anything (Office Hours)

Eric Wynkoop - Ask Me Anything (Office Hours)

Recorded

This event was on January 17, 2023

Join Chef Eric Wynkoop in his virtual office as he welcomes all of your questions. This event was created for you and we encourage you to Ask Anything – from cooking techniques to course-specific questions, to how to turn your cooking passion into profit or simply hearing the perspective of a professional chef, Chef Eric is ready to answer them all.

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Question

Brian Chiarella

What is one tip / trick for plant-based chefs you wished you learned earlier in your career?

Answer

You know, I think that very generally in this ties into one of the earlier questions is that Cooking from plant-based sources is really freeing in a certain way because you don't need to have an emphasis on us on a limited number of sources of protein in this case. I'm thinking anal animal cooking right where whatever we produce people want some sort of an animal derived ingredient as one of the main items certainly on the the main course plate, you know, we we refer to that in the industry as these center of the plate and that term connotes a cut of animal meat and you know in the plant-based world, you know anything goes and it's in a way it's very very fun because you can bring in so much more variety, which we should be doing, you know throughout a menu that you might compose and I think it's it's just it's that perspective. That is Li. In a way, it's fun. It's interesting. It stimulates a lot of new learning and some fun conversations as well. And you know, maybe not a tip or a trick per se but yeah, just a different perspective. All right. Thank you.

Eric Wynkoop

Director of Culinary Instruction

Eric Wynkoop previously served as a founding faculty member at The International Culinary School, instructor in anthropology at Portland State University, and Senior Instructor at the Le Cordon Bleu program at Western Culinary Institute, in Portland, Oregon. He holds Master’s Degrees in postsecondary education and cultural anthropology, as well as credentials in Ayurveda wellness and cooking. Eric has spent more than twenty years in the food and beverage industry. His experiences include banquet management, catering, personal chef, winery cellar hand, educator, textbook contributor, consultant, and ethnographer. He also brings food and cultural insight from nearly a decade of residence in Japan, studies in Mexico, and research in India as a Fulbright Scholar. After graduating from the University of Oregon with a dual degree in Japanese and Asian Studies, he went on to receive his formal culinary training at Western Culinary Institute, in Portland, Oregon. Eric’s role with Rouxbe is central to enhancing the student experience through quality course content and new course development at Rouxbe. Eric is also the lead instructor in Rouxbe courses, a role which he has enjoyed since 2016.